Ah, food. Can’t live without it. Can’t live without good music, either. And when you have both, it’s sublime. Classic blues lyrics often made reference to food, but what were they really talking about?
Case in point: the term “jelly roll,” which is heard in dozens of songs. It seems pretty clear, however, what Sweet Emma meant when she sang, “I know you want it, but you can’t have it.”
Check out this great video of Sweet Emma Barrett performing (I Ain’t Gonna Give Nobody None of My) Jelly Roll at Preservation Hall in New Orleans, likely in the late 1950s.
Now it’s time to cook your own jelly roll and “keep it all to yourself.”
Jelly Roll Recipe by Barb Maxwell from Allrecipes.com
Ingredients
- 1 cup sifted cake flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons 2% milk
- 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar for dusting
- 1 cup strawberry jam
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line a 10x15 inch jellyroll pan with parchment paper.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar with an electric mixer until thick and pale, about 5 minutes. Stir in the vanilla and milk. Stir in the dry ingredients gradually. The batter will be thin. Pour into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until the center springs back when pressed lightly. Don't over bake, or it may crack.
- Generously dust a clean dish towel with confectioners' sugar. Turn the cake out onto the towel, and peel off the parchment paper. Gently roll up the cake using the towel, and let cool for about 10 minutes.
- Unroll the cake, and spread an even coating of jam onto the top. Roll the cake back up into a tight spiral, and remove the towel. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving.
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